Open grate.



W. THOMAS.

OPEN GRATE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 28, 1910.

1,013,330, Patented Jan.2, 1912.

, UNITED STATES PATENT orrrcnf WALTER 'rnomas, or vancouvnn,BnITIsH'co'LuMmA, CANADA.

OPEN GRATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2,1912.

Application filed January 28, 1910. Serial No. 540,561.

' grate from below and also for mechanically removing ashes, from thebottom of the fire or fuel basket down through a tube into a basement,so as to avoid the annoyance, labor and dirt incident to manuallycarrying up coal and taking down ashes, and cleaning the fire in the oldway now generally practiced.

Another object is. to provide for effectively and economically burningin an open grate a comparatively low grade of coal, and at the same timeobtaining a higher heat orincandescence of the coal and more perfectcombustion of the resulting smoke orgaseous. products, so as to.practically prevent the escape of dense smoke and tlliprefore producenumerous economical re- 8 ts.

Another object is to provide improved mechanical details of constructionfor conveniently operating the coal feeding and ash discharge deviceswith freedom from flying dust, and ashes from the grate in the. livingroom or other place where the grate may be located. e

The matter constituting my invention will bev defined in the'claims.

I, will now describe the details of construction' of my invention byreference. tov

Figure 1 represents av parts' 'in section. Fi 2.. represents a top viewof the -gearing or operating the coal and ashv screw conveyers.

The. open grate and surrounding air heat.-' ing dues are located in theliving room above -the floor line and the coal feeding and ashdischarging tubes and operating mechanism are located in the basement below, being supported on metallic I-beams or bars W, or in any otherconvenient manner.

The fire or fuel basket 1 is made ofv metal and may have a fire. bricklining and is provided centrally at the bottom with a trans versedoubleinclined bridge 2. This bridge ma be made of different heights and withdi erently inclined surfaces or may be omitted. The grate or fire box isset into a chimney opening 5 which is provided with an arched. topleading into a chimney flue 6 indicated by dotted lines. The basket orbox 1 is provided with a surrounding ticket 3 extending down to thefloor line, as s own. This jacket may inclose the fire box front andback and at the ends and is provided with perforations or ports 4opening into 7 the interior of the box for supplying hot air to supportcombustion. These rts 4 may be placed both at the front and ack of thebox and in such position as to secure the best efiects in burning thefuel and completely consuming the smoke or ases of combustion. Thebottom of the re box is provided at one end with .an opening with whichis. connected the vertical depending fuel supply pipe 7 having at itslower end a fuel hopper 8 provided with a cover 8.

. Within this feed tube is placed a screw conveyer 9 having a shaft 10,which projects down through the lower end of the tube into. a housing Vcontaining the operating gearing. To the shaft 10 is applied a gear awheel 11 turning loosely on the shaft and having a spring pawl 12' whichengages with a. ratchet wheel 13 rigidly secured to the shaft.

In the bottom. of the fire box at the opopposite side of the bridge 2 isprovided an ash opening with which is connected-the vertically dependingash discharge tube 14,

. jacket 3'. which surrounds the fire basket or grate. The heatingjacket 16 may also have an air. inletopening 19 providedwith' acover asshown- A screw conveyer 20 is suitably journaled in the discharge tube14 and. seits lower end the shaft 21 projects.

posite end from the feed tube and on the into the housing V where it isprovided with a tube gear wheel 22 provided with a spring pawl 23 whichengages with a ratchet wheel Ql secured to the shaft 21 for turning thesame. The gear wheels '11 and 22 are engaged by the intermediate gearwheel 26 secured on the lower end of an cp .venient height in flue 34 isjournaled a short shaft 32 provided at its inner end with a beveledpinion which engages with a bevieled gear 33 secured to shaft 29. Ahandle crank 31 is applied to the short shaft 32 for operating theshafts 29 and 25 and the connecting gearing, either-for forcing coal upthrough the feed tube 7 or ashes down the discharge tube 14. The detailsof construction of this operating gearing may be varied and the power"shaft 25 may be operated in thebasement by application of a crankdirectly thereto, but for convenience of the house-wife 1 preferablyconstruct the gearing substantially as shown, so'that it may be operatedby a crank, as 31, in the living room. I I

' For the purpose of heating air to besup Y plied to another room aboveor adjacent to the room in which, is locatedlthe open grate, I constructon each side of the chimney opening 5 the upright air heating titles 34and above the opening a connecting horizontalflue 36 with which mayconnect a pipe 37 indicated bydo'tted lines, leading to a separate room.The fiues 34 and 36 are pref-. erably made of metal and with ornamentaldesigns to form a'mantel. 'The lower ends ofthe air flue 34 are providedwith air inlet openings 35. I

The spring pawls and ratchet wheels are so arranged uponthegear wheels11 and 22 and the shafts l'O'and 21' that 'vvhen the power shaft andengaging gear 26 are turned in one directim coal will be forced up-b'ythe conveyer 9 through feed tube 7 into the bottom of the fire box orbasket 1, and by turning the shaft 25 and gear 26 in the oppositedirection the conveyer 20 will be operated to force ashes down throughthe discharge tube 14' and chute 15. This coal feeding and ashdischarging operation can be quickly performed at suitable intervals ofan hour, more or less, according to the rate of combustion and the heatrequired.

"Slack coal or other inferior coal can be successfully fed toan'd burnedin the fire box for the reason that'the upper portions of the fuel inthe box will be ignited and partially or wholly incandescent, so thatthe ucts. .the bottom, the fuel in the fire box will be p graduallyforced over the bridge 2 toward the ash opening at the opposite end ofthe gases or smoke from the fresh fuel supplied at the bottom will becaused to pass through -such highly heated fuel a'bove'where hot airwill be supplied through the ports 4 to cause complete combustion ofsuch gaseous prod- By pushing up the fresh fuel from box. Hot air isalso here admitted through the ports 4 for completing combustion of thefuel and gaseous productsso that only ashes will pass down into thedischarge tub'e l l.

The rate of combustion of the fuel may be I controlled by the dischargeof ashes through tube 14. If a comparatively low fire is required, theashes will be allowed to accumulate more or less at the dischargeopening beforethe conveyer 20 is operated'to convey them down throughthe tube. f The rate of combustion may also be somewhat regulated by thetime or intervals of feeding coal up through the tube 7 and the amountof fuel which is maintained at one time in the fire 2 box. Theperiods offeeding fuel and discharging ashes will be regulated by the amount ofheat required.

By forcing the fuel up into thefire box the partially coked coal will bebroken up and fedforward so as to.keep the bed of fuel well open in goodburning condition.

Air will be heated to the desired temperature in the fines 34 and 36 andmay be coning the same. I

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patat,

1. An open grate or fire basket for a chimney opening, having connectingwith its bottom a fuel supply tube and mechanical means for feeding fueltherethrough, and an ash discharge tube connecting with the bottom andhaving independent'means for controlling the discharge of ashes inthedesired relation to the feed of coal in the fuel supply tube,substantially as described.

2. An open grate or fire basket for a- "veyed by pipe 37 to any otherroom, warmchimney opening, having a bottom fuel feed tube and a screwconveyer therein, and'an ash. f discharge tube opening into the bottomand having a screw conveyer, opera ing mechanism for the conveyers, theconveyer in the ash tube having separate operating mechanism. to controlthe discharge of ashes and" thus regulate the combustion of fuel in thegrate, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a fire box or basket, of a depending fuel supplytube opening into the bottom at one side or end, a conveyer for feedingor forcing fuel up.

through thetube, an ash discharge tube connectlng with the bottom at theopposite side" or end and a screw'conveyer for discharging ashes downthrough said tube, and separately operative mechanism for said screwconveyers for controlling the feed of coal and independently thedischarge of ash and thereby regulating the combustion in the grate,-substantially as described.

4. The combination with a fire box or basket for a chimney opening, of adepending fuel supply tube connecting with the bottom and having-a fuelfeed hopper, a de pending ash discharge tube also connecting with thebottom of the basket, screw con- Veyers in said fuel and ash tubes, andgear wheels at their lower ends, and operating gearing and a shaftconnecting with said wheels, and independent means connecting the gearwheels With the-conveyer shafts for controlling the feed of fuel anddischarge of ashes and thereby regulating the fire.

5. The combination with a fire box or basket, of means for mechanicallyfeeding it with fuel from below upward, a depending ash discharge tubeconnecting with its hotair heating flues at and having an exit pipe forconducting I Witnesses tom, a heatin jacket surrounding the ash tube andfire ox and having air openings communicating with the box for supplyinghot air to the fuel.

6. The combination with an open fire box or basket for a chimneyopening, of a depending bottom fuel feed tube, a depending bottom ashdischarge tube, an air heating jacket surrounding said ash tube andconnecting by openings with the fire box, and the sides and top of thechimney. opening for the fire box or. basllfeg 0 air to a separate roomfrom that contaming the fire box or basket.

' In testimony whereof I aflix my signaturein presence oftwo-witnesses'.

WALTER THOMAS.

J. L. SMITH, A. E. GALIIN.

